Treaty Propels Opposition Nicaraguan Leaders Challenge Sandinistas

April 6, 1989|The New York Times

MANAGUA, Nicaragua -- Thrust into prominence by a new accord committing the Sandinista government to free elections and political pluralism, Nicaraguan opposition leaders have found themselves with unaccustomed power and responsibility in shaping the country`s political future.

But their choices remain sharply circumscribed, limited by the strength of their Sandinista adversaries, and on the other side, by pressure from the United States and anti-Sandinista guerrilla groups.

``It is as if we have been suddenly discovered after so many years,`` said Roger Guevara, a leader of the Democratic Coordinator, a coalition of opposition parties, businessmen and labor groups. ``But even now, we are not the subject of negotiation; we are the object of negotiation.``

Under the new regional peace accord, signed last month in El Salvador, the opposition leaders have been given the leading role in efforts to establish a basis for elections that would be satisfactory to the Sandinistas` critics, inside and outside the country.

Long split into more than a dozen factions and parties, opposition politicians have been forced to seek a quick consensus in hopes of rewriting electoral laws and forging a united campaign effort in time for new elections, now scheduled in February 1990.

Last Friday, the United States increased the pressure on Nicaragua by announcing a bipartisan agreement to maintain the Contra forces until the elections are held. But by doing so, it also increased the pressure on opposition leaders.

``We understand that this is not a normal election,`` said Augustin Jarquin, a leader of the Social Christian Party, a centrist opposition party. ``If we don`t succeed in reaching a national accord through these elections, there is a good probability that the military activity will be revived, and that would be a disaster -- for the Sandinistas, for us, for everyone.``

Under the regional accord, the opposition`s first major test will come by the end of next month, when it must have reached agreement with the government on the terms of new legislation controlling electoral procedures.

Several parties have already drawn up lists of demands, and leaders are meeting to forge a common platform. But the Sandinistas have met only with individual opposition leaders, apparently hoping to play on divisions in an opposition that ranges from conservatives to Marxist-Leninists.

By tying the future of the rebels` armed struggle to the electoral process, the regional accord and the new U.S. Contra aid package raised anew the issue of relations between opposition leaders and their guerrilla counterparts outside the country.

It is a sensitive question for many opposition leaders because it exposes them to possible imprisonment while at the same time suggesting that they are not fully in charge of their movement.

The question was further emphasized by the State Department`s suggestion that at least some Contra leaders should return to Nicaragua to take part in the electoral campaign.

Leaders of Nicaragua`s two oldest parties, the Conservative and Independent Liberal parties, supported the U.S. view that additional aid to the Contras would keep up pressure on the Sandinista government to live up to its commitments under the regional accord.

``I think that the Sandinistas are bound to do a better job with the Contras in existence than without them,`` said Mario Rappaccioli, a Conservative Party leader.